Last week, faculty and staff of both business and engineering colleges received an email announcing the opening the new Business and Engineering Complex is now delayed to October. The complex was originally scheduled to open for the fall semester classes in August.
The email was sent from the deans’ offices of both colleges, stating that the complex won’t be ready for classes until Oct. 16, when classes resume after the fall break. Fall semester classes scheduled in the complex will need to be relocated.
The university is currently working on the details of relocating fall semester classes and has no additional comments at the moment, according to Bradley’s spokesperson.
The email stated the delay will allow everyone working on the building to guarantee the building is prepared for students to begin classes.
“We do expect to have occupancy of the building in August, but we want to give the contractor, the technology crews, and [faculty and staff] sufficient time to make sure everything is done, tested, and ready to go, ensuring that when we officially open the doors to the new building, our students will have a fantastic, state-of-the-art experience, and the hiccups that might come from the transition will be minimal,” the email reads.
The 270,000-square-foot Business and Engineering Complex will be the largest facility on Bradley’s campus with an estimated cost of $100 million.
The two-phase construction plan started in the summer of 2017. Phase one, now set to be completed in October, composes roughly 85 percent of the total construction. Phase two of the construction will start after the engineering college moves out from its current home in Jobst Hall.
“As soon as the engineering and business colleges getting moved in, we will be tearing down the dear old Jobst Hall … and everything will be done by 2021,” University president Gary Roberts said at the final beam placement ceremony for the phase one construction in December 2018.
This move-in delay will likely shorten the time allowed for the second phase of the construction.
